SaneDoNotDisturb: Silence the Noise of Email

When it comes to email, are you a reactor or a batcher? There are two kinds of people in this world, but most of us, unfortunately, are in the “reactor” category – AKA, falling into the trap of constantly nibbling away on messages that come in throughout the day. “Batchers”, on the other hand, block off time in their calendars to power through their inbox, and then ignore it the rest of the time. Reactor’s work suffers since they are constantly interrupting their tasks to check messages, while batchers can stay in the zone and focus on work, distraction-free.

Our ethos at SaneBox revolves around the “batching” method. Sure, winnowing down your email can make it feel like you’ve made strong progress, but it’s a false sense of accomplishment. Studies have shown that batchers are more productive, less stressed, and maintain a higher state of contentment. We think that’s a pretty compelling argument against reacting and multitasking when it comes to email.

Every new email notification that pops up on your screen disrupts your focus – even if you don’t even open it. Studies report that it can take up to 20 minutes to recoup full productivity after a notification comes in. Add that to the hundreds (or thousands) of new emails you might receive over the course of a week, and it’s hard to imagine ever having an undistracted block of time to actually get things done.

The goal is to make our meaningful work as addictive as email, and our off-hours (e.g. vacations) well-spent. Raise your hand if you actually want to know how many emails you’ve received while you’re off doing something way more important – spending time with family, going on a well-deserved trip, or putting your head down while working on an important project you’re passionate about. No takers, right?

This is why SaneBox created SaneDoNotDisturb. SaneDoNotDisturb filters out the noise of steadily incoming email to reduce the distraction of constantly checking your inbox – because multitasking is a myth, after all. When we’re rapidly switching between tasks and activities, we end up depleting our mental energy and degrading our clarity. A study conducted at the University of London found that we lose as many as 10 IQ points when we allow our work to be interrupted by benign distractions like emails and text messages. SaneDoNotDisturb is the perfect tool to help you become a batcher, not a reactor, and to help you calendar-block so you can actually reserve time for email.

SaneDoNotDisturb works by temporarily pausing new emails from appearing in your inbox – therefore reducing email interruptions. When you turn the feature on, you’ll be free from distractions across anywhere you check email across all devices and platforms, including computers, phones, and tablets. When you’re ready, turn SaneDoNotDisturb off on your SaneBox dashboard, and all the emails you received will be ready for you.

Here’s how to enable the feature:

Log into your dashboard here (login link)

Turn on the SaneDoNotDisturb feature by clicking “Pause”

Magically, you’re no longer receiving emails to your inbox!

As with all of our features, SaneDoNotDisturb is totally customizable. If you’re a SaneBox customer, you can also set up your inbox to only get new emails at certain times of the day, or unpause automatically at a specific date or time. You can also make delivery exceptions using the feature so that certain messages arrive in your inbox no matter what – for example, from an important client or your best friend. Making exceptions will help you break free from the noise without missing out on the messages that are more critical.